A fair amount of the talk in rugby circles involving Ireland and South Africa has had little to do with the looming clash against the two nations in Dublin on Saturday. There is another ongoing battle outside the field of play as they both prepare for the final decision on who gets to host the 2023 Rugby World Cup, which will be made four days later on Wednesday, November 15.

While that battle rages on, both respective rugby teams have been hard at work with final preparations for their encounter which kicks off the Springboks’ end-of-the-year tour.

They also failed to put away an Australian side which was expected to struggle throughout the competition, following a poor showing in Super Rugby from teams from down under. They did however restore a fair bit of their dignity in the closing game of the campaign in Newlands, giving the All Blacks a proper scare as they narrowly lost, hamstrung by the late sending off of centre Damien de Allende.

They come up against a side who finished runners-up in this year’s Six Nations, losing out to England despite handing them their only defeat of the campaign.

In what has been a bit of a norm in recent years, the Boks will face an expat in the form of CJ Stander who will don the number eight jersey for the Irish. The former Junior Bok has become a key player for the home side since switching allegiance, with performances that saw him get the nod for the British and Irish Lions squad which did battle against the All Blacks early this year.

Head to head

Coetzee’s first assignment as Springbok coach came when the Irish landed on these shores for a three-match series. After suffering defeat in the first Test, Toetie’s men bounced back to narrowly clinch the series 2-1 at literally the last minute, thanks to little scrumhalf Faf de Klerk’s heroics.

Post-isolation, South Africa have been the dominant side as it took Ireland six years to finally register their first win since these two sides first met in 1998. Overall, the visitors have recorded ten victories, while the hosts have won six of these encounters.